Walmart

Longtime financial executive and former Walmart U.S. CFO Michael Fung is helping discounter 99 Cents Only modernize inventory systems that have resulted in a series of accounting issues.

Fung, 62, retired from Walmart in early 2012, but was called back into service this past January by the private equity owners of 99 Cents Only. Fung was named interim chief administrative officer at the company to oversee finance, information technology and real estate. In addition, 99 Cents Only board member and former Food Lion president and CEO Richard Anicetti was named interim CEO.

Every week, retailers unleash significant advertising and promotion efforts in the perpetual competition to engage shoppers, drive trips and grow sales. Annual retail sales and market share are the result of the competition that played out in the preceding 52 individual weeks, and many companies highly value “winning the week.” But some weeks can be much more competitive than others, creating challenges for retailers also facing strong pressures to be efficient and limit costs.

Progress Financial may not be directly affiliated with Walmart, but a Bloomberg story this week reveals the companies are connected in some interesting ways.

Having past the calendar’s mid-point, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at the most viewed stories of the year to date on ChainStoreAge.com. (Based on the results,  the ongoing saga of J.C. Penney remains the industry's biggest story.) Here are the Top 10 stories of the first six months:

New York -- Walmart has launched the latest installment of its social media-inspired merchandising initiative known as, “Get on the Shelf.”

The program, developed by the company’s digital think tank @WalmartLabs, affords entrepreneurs the ability to have their product featured on Walmart.com and possibly in select Walmart stores. The company issued an open call to anyone with an interesting product to enter between now and July 31 by submitting a video to https://getontheshelf.walmart.com.

Walmart has begun the latest installment of its social media-inspired merchandising initiative known as, "Get on the Shelf."

The program, developed by the company’s digital think tank @WalmartLabs, affords entrepreneurs the ability to have their product featured on Walmart.com and possibly in select Walmart stores. The company issued an open call to anyone with an interesting product to enter between now and July 31 by submitting a video to https://getontheshelf.walmart.com.

For the second time in the past six years, 99 Cents Only said it was unable to file its annual report within the timeframe specified by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company’s annual report on form 10-K for its fiscal year ended March 30 was due at the SEC no later than June 28. However, because of a range of inventory valuation issues identified by auditors and a new CFO, the company said it was unable to file the report without unreasonable effort or expense. The company did not indicate when it planned to file the report other than as soon as practicable.

Dramatic growth and purchasing power of U.S. Latino population demands retailer attention